Charles Mcrae

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT CHARLES MCRAE - PAGE 3

THE GOOD NEWS: Tampa Bay had No. 74, Paul Gruber, back in the starting lineup, which was a welcomed sight for everybody. Gruber played about 30 snaps and was not accountable for either of the Packers' two sacks. Rookie receiver Horace Copeland came up with the team's longest run this season (22 yards on a reverse) as well as its longest touchdown play when he snared a 67-yard bomb in the fourth quarter.THE BAD NEWS: The Bucs had six catchable passes that were dropped. Rookie Lamar Thomas played terribly, later explaining ''I couldn't catch a cold.

Craig Erickson doesn't represent the only change in Sunday's lineup for the Buccaneers' offense. Rob Taylor, an 8-year veteran, will start at right tackle in place of Charles McRae, the team's first-round pick from 1991.Taylor beat out McRae for the starting job in each of the past two seasons but relinquished his role a year ago when he injured his knee. Before McRae replaced him in 1991, Taylor had made 51 consecutive starts for the Bucs.BRIEFLY . . .ROOKIE FREE agent Curtis Buckley, the hit of the Bucs' special teams in preseason because of his all-out style and his on-field acrobatic flips, cleared waivers on Wednesday and was added to Tampa Bay's developmental squad, joining Tyree Davis, Shawn Price and Butch Hadnot.

Making room for their latest signees, the Tampa Bay Bucs reduced their roster to 80 players Monday with three separate player transactions.The Bucs waived free-agent kicker Jake McInerney, placed defensive lineman Derrell Robertson (knee) on injured waivers and announced that linebacker Terry Bagsby had left camp on his own.After just one practice Sunday, the Bucs returned to two-a-day workouts at the University of Tampa on Monday, but coach Richard Williamson wasn't happy with what he saw initially.

The next time the Bucs go seeking free agents, perhaps they ought to look into signing George Foreman and Joe Frazier. With few exceptions, practices have yielded a minimum of one or two fights each night. Monday, cornerback Curtis Buckley tangled with offensive guard Charles McRae, and linebacker Demetrius DuBose and rookie offensive guard Tommy Holliday exchanged punches.Tuesday, his shirt displaying blood from the previous night's action, Tampa Bay coach Sam Wyche was promoting the nightly undercard as Don King might.

If anything, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers can lay claim to some stability on special teams: two-year captain and backup linebacker Sam Anno agreed to terms Wednesday.Anno, the Bucs' leading special teams tackler the last two seasons since his acquisition from the Minnesota Vikings, was named the 1989 special teams player of the year by the NFL Alumni Association. Anno also is the deep snapper on kicks.Tampa Bay also locked up another of its draft picks Wednesday by signing seventh-round choice Calvin Tiggle, a linebacker from Georgia Tech.

Charles McRae, the seventh overall pick in the 1991 NFL draft, has been benched. Again. Tampa Bay offensive line coach Bob Wylie said he wants to send McRae a message by starting Jim Pyne at left guard this week. ''I don't know,'' McRae said when asked what the message was. ''They pretty much just told me I've got to try to earn it back in practice.'' McRae has given up three of the team's 12 sacks and was flagged for a costly false-start penalty on third-and-inches early in the second half of last week's loss to Chicago.

Against Detroit, kicker Michael Husted was wide left on a 43-yard field goal, his third miss in his past four tries. In Husted's defense, the snap from center Ed Brady was low. ''That was my fault,'' Brady said. Husted, though, blamed himself. ''I just missed it,'' Husted said.''The hold was there. I just pulled it to the left. I've been in situations where the operation hasn't been perfect, and I still made the kicks. I have to make these as well.'' Tampa Bay coach Sam Wyche said Husted's job is not in danger.

Tampa Bay is hoping a new starting quarterback can help spark an offense that sputtered badly in a season-opening, 27-3 defeat to Kansas City last week.The Bucs (0-1) visit the New York Giants at the Meadowlands. Tampa Bay is 0-4 against the Giants and 0-6 overall at the Meadowlands.''As an offense, we struggled a little bit and never got the engine going, so to speak,'' said Craig Erickson, named to replace Steve DeBerg as starting quarterback. ''It was frustrating to all of us.''A good deal of the Bucs' offensive woes could be traced to their lack of a ground game.